Rift Question

[Dave Pagel]

I have built a bunch of arrows over the last few years, aluminum, carbon & woodies.  After reading T.J. Conrad's book, I realized I wasn't paying attention to "rift" on the shafts.  I was paying attention to the end grain so to speak, but not the rift.  Now I am.  My question is this, I have been getting some very nice Sitka shafts that are perplexing me.  They are straight, finish nicely and weigh out at around 9.5 grains per pound for my bows, but the rift appears to run in two different directions on the shafts.  The nock end one way and the point end another.  What do I do?  I have been putting the rift running the correct way on the nock end.  Am I correct?

Dave

[Brad_Gentry]

What is a "rift"?

[Bowsey Wails]

Looking down on the arrow from above, you want the rift pointing away from you. I have also encountered arrows where it was difficult to determine the orientation of the rift; I guess I just make a choice and go with it.

Basically, rift orientation is a preventative measure should an arrow break during release. The portion driven forward by the string will slide over the other piece, avoiding injury to your hand. If you inspect your arrow before shooting (particularly if the arrow has struck a tree or rock), then rift orientation is not critical. It certainly has no bearing upon the arrows flight.

Tim

[Ray Hammond]

think bow of a ship, and how as it travels through the water it creates a narrow set of ripples in front of itself, and they angle outwards and away from the stern of the ship.

That's rift, and you want the narrow part pointing forward on the shaft toward the tip, away from your hand, on top and bottom of shaft.

The grain on the sides of the arrow, facing sight window and out toward open space to the side of your bow should look like the edge of a book, the pages stacked on top of each other.

[Dave Pagel]

Tim,

I agree that it doesn't affect flight.  These arrows are the best woodies I have encountered, but I look at that picture in T.J.'s book and I sure don't want that to be me!

Dave

[BobW]

I (being "uneducated" in bow jargon) was sure this was another compound/traditional gripe session....  

I've learned something new today.

[Orion]

The rift, or Vs, should be on the top and/or bottom of the arrow.  Or, stated another way, the grain should be perpendicular to the side of the bow.  On really good shafts with straight grain, there may not be rift on both sides of the arrow.  I always use the straighest end of the shaft as the nock end.  

I wouldn't be too worried about the direction the rift is pointing.  I've been making wood arrows for 40 years and have never had one break at release.  I've broken a lot of arrows, but never that way.  I only use very straight grain shafts though, and always place the straightest grain on the nock end.  

However, I've seen a lot of junk wood where the grain is running off the shaft.  These should really be culled, but if one does use them for stumpers or whatever, it wouldn't hurt to follow TJ's advice, in which case you would want the rift on the bottom pointing toward the nock end.  If a shaft gives you that on either end, use the straightest end for the nock end.

The important thing is to have the grain perpendicular to the bow site window, its strongest orientation.  Placing the rift perpendicular to the bow site window is what's dangerous.  A lot of folks, even folks who sell their wares, make this mistake.